The Gallup Corporation recently issued results of a national survey gauging the level of trust people have toward mass media.

In the 2012 survey, Democrats are much more trustworthy of mass media (58 percent) than those identifying themselves as Independent (31 percent) and Republican (26 percent).

If 2011 is an indicator, New Mexico residents have a higher trust in mass media than the typical American.

Research and Polling asked a similar question as a part of the 2011 Garrity Perception Survey (GPS) commissioned by The Garrity Group.  The 2011 GPS and 2011 Gallup surveys had a similar (not identical) process, asking respondents to rate their trust worthiness of media sources on a scale of 1-5.

Participants in the 2011 Gallup’s survey had more trust in mass media if they were a Democrat (56 percent) than either Republicans or Independents (both rating their trust at 38 percent).

Here is the 2011 GPS breakdown of how New Mexico residents trust mass media (Independent voters are identified as those who “decline to state” a political affiliation):

Local Newspapers:  53 percent of Democrats trust newspaper, compared to 49 percent of Republicans and 42 percent of all Independents.

Local Television News: 65 percent of all democrats trust what they see on the local newscasts compared to 59% of republicans and 55% of Independents.

National Broadcast News: 68 percent of Democrats trust the national news sources compared to 54 percent of Republicans and 40% of those who are Independent voters.

Radio News Coverage: 46 percent of Democrats trust what they hear, compared to 44 percent of Republicans and 42 percent of Independent voters.

When New Mexico residents were asked to gauge the trustworthiness of their “conversations with friends” Republicans had a higher level of trust (44 percent) than Democrats (37 percent) and Independent voters (31 percent).

Advertising had only single digit level trust among all of those identifying a political party affiliation.

So now New Mexico residents know why all they see on television are political ads and why your friends are shy to ask about your political opinions.